Patterns for expanded elastomer suits



June 14, 1966 J. w. WAY ,4 9 PATTERNS FOR EXPANDED ELASTQMER SUITS Filed April 29, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

Li/w/r W VVZW June 14, 1966 .1. w. WAY 3,255,459

PATTERNS FOR EXPANDED ELASTOMER SUITS Filed April 29, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N VEN TOR.

1/20: W my BY June 14, 1966 J. w. WAY 3,255,459

PATTERNS FOR EXPANDED ELASTOMER SUITS Filed April 29, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

June 14, 1966 J. w. WAY

PATTERNS FOR EXPANDED ELASTOMER SUITS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4,

Filed April 29, 1963 I INVENTOR. 0/5 W @V BY womens suits.

3 255,459 PATTERNS FOR EXPANDED ELASTOMER SUITS Jack W. Way, Garden Grove, Califi, assignor to W. J. Voit Rubber Corp, a corporation of California Filed Apr. 29, 1963, Ser. No. 276,433 4 Claims. (Cl. 2-2.1)

This invention relates to the patterns for expanded elastomer suits, which improve appearance and functional features of such suits. Suits of this type are used for underwater diving in cold water, also known as SCUBA diving (diving with Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus), water skiing and high altitude flying. In all of the above uses the expanded cellular elastomer, which is usually a synthetic rubber, acts as an elastic, stretchable insulating layer between the wearer and low temperature ambient medium. v

In ordinary garments, such as mens suits or womens dresses, the art of tailoring is based on certain shaping of materials used for making garments to produce a certain amount of draping eflect or loose fitting to produce the desired fit and appearance.

In order to produce a properly fitting attire in womens dresses, for example, the bust portion of a womans dress includes a dart, or tuck, or a series of darts to show the wearer esthetically without unduly concealing or revealing the wearers features. Even in some of the more conservative, rapidly diminishing proportion, of swim suits, there is a certain amount of draping.

Such draping is desirable in street clothing but would not be functionally desirable in diving suits.

Suits of expanded elastomers, such as neoprene synthetic rubber, as used for skin dividing, water skiing and surfing, must fit tightly or make direct contact with the body to minimize the entry of large amount of water into and between the suit and the body. Proper'conformity to the bust line and direct contact of the suit with the skin of the wearer over the entire inner surface of the suit is especially requisite in womens suits since there is a considerable channel between the breasts, and the suit should not form any bridge between the breasts.

There is also a concavity between the deltoid and the greater pectoral muscle, which is also a problem in the design of the diving suits, and especially so with the The suits should also follow this concavity rather than have unsightly and unnecessary bulges of extra material in this region which would trap a large amount of water.

As will be shown in the drawings, the disclosed patterns enable the suit to conform and make direct contact with these concave areas, the first area being the one between the breasts, and the second one just below the shoulder or deltoid. The suit also includes an additional feature and that is an esthetically and functionally proper shaping of the bust form itself, in combination with the above two concavities and proper shaping of thewaist and back portions of the jacket.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide patterns for suits made from expanded elastomers which produce better fitting suits, and especially so in the region of the bustline in womens suits and the region below the shoulder in mens as well as womens suits.

It is also an object of this invention to provide better fitting mens and womens suits made of elastomeric material.

Referring to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view ofthe basic templates for producing the front portion of womens suits;-

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the templates for produc- -ing the back and the sleeve portion of womens and mens suits;

United States Patent Patented June 14, 1966 FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of back and front pieces illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 with the back piece shown partially connected to the front pieces at the shoulder and neck portions of .the suit;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of the completed suit.

Referring to FIGURE 1, it illustrates the plan view of four templates used for making the front portion of the jacket. The four templates include right and left chest panels 10 and 11 and right and left shoulder panels 12 and 13.

In the front panels 10 and 11, the edges a-b-c and a b c each are a curve starting at the front portion of the neck and ending at the hip line. This curve begins essentially with an arc a having a radius 15 which blends into an inflection region 16 joining are a with an arc b having a radius 18. The average length of radius 15 is in the order of 7%" and the average length of radius 18 is in the order of 13". A substantially straight edge c forms a tangential joint with are b. Edge a b c is a reverse image of the edge a-b-c, like the entire right front piece 10 is the reverse image of the left front piece 11. Corners 30 and 32 may subtend either a sharp angle which is less than and which is illustrated by solid lines, or a substantially 90 angle illustrated by dotted lines. In the latter case the collar is shaped as a mandarin collar, while when the angle is less than 90, then the front portion of the collar forms an open front collar illustrated in FIG. 4.

If a straight line 13 is drawn parallel to line c and tangent to arc a, then the lower portion of line 19 will be spaced from line 0 by a distance in the order of from 3" to 3 /2". The inflected curvature of the edges a-b-c and a b c enables one to obtain, in part, properly shaped bust cups: when the edges a-b-c and a b c are transformed into two straight edges upon cementing of the panel 10 to panel 12 and of panel 11 to panel 13, as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, the region e is then raised and forms one rounded cup and the region 2 form the second cup.

Concluding the description of the remaining edges of the front panels, the edge 20, panel 11, is a straight edge, edge 21 is an inflection curve having two arcs 22 and 23 with their respective radii 24 and 25. W indicates the waistline dimension (seen also FIG. 2). The length of the lower edge 20 then is the hip line and the dimension of this entire hip circumference is equal to W+ from 2" to 3". Edge ef is a substantially straight line, and edge e-d essentially has a concave outline of the shape illustrated in the figure. The upper edge 29 is also a curve including a straight portion blending into an arcuate portion. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the two front edges a-b-c and a -b -c of the front panels are used for cementing two parts 300 and 302 of a zipper 400 to the front panels after these two edges become straight edges upon cementing of the shoulder panels 12 and 13 to the front panels 10 and 11 respectively, as shown in FIG. 3.

FIGURE 1 also illustrates the plan views of two shoulder panels 12 and 13 which are joined to the front panels 10 and 11, respectively, in the manner illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. Edges de-f and ghi are joined to each other to form a cemented seam 320, and edge d -e is joined to g h i to form a seam 322, as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. The shoulder panels 12 and 13 also include a concave edge g-h which is cemented to a corresponding concave edge d-e of the front piece in the manner illustrated in FIG. 3 and 4. The length of edge d'ef is equal to the length of edge g-h-i. Upon the completion of the cementing of the front and shoulder I panels, edges a-b-c and a -b -c become straight lines, as illustrated in FIG. 3, and portions eh and e 41, be-

one inch above points e-h and e h come raised upwardly from the plane of the front panels thus forming, in part, the two hemispherically-shaped bust cups 400 and 402 illustrated in FIG. 4. The remaining portions of the bust cups become completed by the front panels and especially those portions of the front panels which are directly adjacent to the edges e and e of the front panels and portions h and I1 on the shoulder panels, all of which will become raised above the plane of the remaining portion of the front panel and the shoulder panel. In this manner two hemispheri-callyshaped bust cups are formed. Since the shoulder panels 12 and 13 each has an arcuate edge h and h having a radius 34, the bust cups form a substantially, or at least approximating, hemispherically-shaped cup, both having pleasantly rounded contours as differentiated from coneshaped contours prevalent in some suits of the prior art. It should be noted that the arcuate edge It merges tangentially into a straight edge portion 35 which is approximately 1" long.

Since, as mentioned above, the edges abc and a b c are now straight edges and these two edges now lie in the plane of the panels, it is now possible to cement to these two straight edges a zipper 400 in the manner illustrated at 300 and 302 in FIGS. 4 and 3.

Examination of FIG. 1 also indicates that the shoulder and the front panels, and especially their matching, adjacent originally concave edges gh and d-e, in combination, produce a tuck 37 which is also illustrated by dotted lines 314-315 and 316-317 in FIG. 3. These dotted lines illustrate the shape of the tuck, or the spacing that would be defined by the two edges if the lengths defined by the dotted lines were not cemented to each other along the lengths of these dotted lines. The maximum width of the above tuck is in the order of 1%". The shape of this tuck resembles the shape of an ovate leaf with the two edges approaching each other asymptotically and then having short straight portions after they meet each other. In a custom suit this tuck may be made either larger or smaller, depending upon the shape or depth of the shoulder cavity, i.e., the one between the deltoid and the greater pectoral muscle. To produce an uplifting effect on the breasts, the tuck should begin approximately When these two concave edges, and the tuck formed by them, are joined to each other, they combine to produce a pattern which removes excess amount of expanded elastomer between the shoulder, or deltoid, and the greater pectoral muscle, with the result that this shoulder cavity becomes properly fitted with no excess elastomer bulging outwardly, and acting as a trap for water, any longer in this region.

Referring to FIGURE 2, it illustrates plan views of five panels; a central back panel 200, two back sidepanels 206 and 207 and two sleeve panels 201 and 202. The illustrated central back panel 200 includes an extension 203, commonly called a beaver-tail, which on the finished jacket is brought between the legs of the wearer and is then attached by means of two snaps 204 and 205 to the lower front portion of the jacket which is also provided with the matching snaps 304 and 305. The central back panel 200 and the side panels 206 and 207 include tucks 210 and 211 and convex edges 217,

'216, 219 and 218. When the edges 216 and 217 are joined together they form a hemispherical projection which fits over the shoulder blade. Likewise, when the edges 218 and 219 are joined together, they form a hemispherical projection which fits over two buttocks. The waistline is equal to /2W and the hip lines from /2W+4" to /2W+6" when the tucks 210 and 211 are closed. The entire back assembly, when provided with tuck 210 and four projections, such as 213 and 215, produces a better fitting suit. In prior art pieces 200, 206 and 207 are a single panel which is not capable of producing well fitting suits.

FIGURE 3 illustrates a perspective view of the suit in a partially assembled or cemented condition. The

only remaining step in cementing the suit is closing of zipper 300-302, folding of the front portion over the back portion and joining an edge 308 to an edge 309, edge 310 to edge 311, which produces the completed womans suit illustrated in FIG. 4.

The radius 18 may vary from infinity to about 10 inches, and when the edges abc and a b c are straight lines, which is the case when the radius 18 is equal to an infinity, then the jacket is suitable for flatchested women and men. The average radius of about 13 inches produces, in part, a bust cup of size B as designated by brassiere manufacturers.

The disclosed cup forming method includes angle A in combination with radius 18 and radius 34. For a bust cup of size B, this angle A is in the range of from to *If radius 18 is infinity, then angle A is equal to zero. If radius 18 is about ten inches, as in the case for a bust cup size C or D, then angle A- is larger than for a B cup and is in the order of Thus by varying the magnitude of angle A and radius 18 a specific bust cup size is designed. An additional dimension to be taken into consideration is the location of point 50 of radius 13 and the location of point e.

By adjusting point e in reference to line a-b-c the position of the bust cups can be either brought closer together or separated from each other, depending on the tip-to-tip breast measurement of the wearer. Also by lengthening or shortening the lines de it becomes possible to locate the bust cups either higher or lower, depending on the shoulder-to-breast measurement of the wearer.

A major point also in this invention is the esthetic styling of the tip of the cup. The radius 34 is highly important to accomplish this. This radius can range from A inch to inch with /2 inch being the best in appearance.

What I claim as new is:

1. An expanded elastomer womans jacket having a front portion and a back portion, the front portion of said jacket comprising left and right front panels adapted to extend from the neck to the waist of the wearer, and left and right shoulder panels adapted to extend from the shoulder to below the bust region of the wearer, said front panels having inner edges A-B-C joined in juxtaposed relation by releasable fastening means, said edges A-B-C when said panels are flattened comprising a convex arcuate upper portion A merging into a concave arcuate intermediate portion B with said concave arcuate portion B merging into a straight lower portion C, each of said front panels having an outer top edge D-EF substantially equal in length and abuttingly joined to a corresponding inner edge G-H-I of each of said shoulder panels, said joined front and shoulder panels cooperatively forming substantially hemispherical-shaped bust cups having rounded tips, the portions D and G of the joined edges D-EF and G-H-I including a double convex tuck disposed between the bust tips and the shoulder end of said joined edges and the portions F and I of said joined edges including a wedge-shaped tuck disposed below the bust tips, said edge portion H being an arc tangentially joining said edge portions G and I and disposed substantially at the tips of said bust cups, said joined edges D-E-F and G-H-I cooperatively acting with said fastened juxtaposed edges A-B-C to urge said jacket into close conformity with the bust configuration of the wearer with said edges A-B-C disposed substantially in a straight line as viewed from the front of the jacket.

2. The jacket as set forth in claim 1 wherein the portions F and I of said joined edges of said front and shoulder panels respectively are substantially straight lines when said panels are flattened.

3. An expanded elastomer womans jacket adapted to fit in close conformity with the body of the wearer,

said jacket comprising a front portion and a rear portion, said front portion comprising two front panels adapted to extend from the neck to below the waist of the wearer and having shoulder, chest and hip covering portions and two shoulder panels adapted to extend from the shoulder to below the bust region of the wearer and having shoulder and upper chest covering portions, said front panels having first edges disposed in juxtaposed relation and releasably fastened together by fastening means attached thereto, said first edges comprising when said front panels are flattened an outwardly curved top portion merging into an inwardly curved intermediate portion, said intermediate portion extending from a point commencing above the bust region to a point spaced below the bust region and upwardly from the waist of the wearer, each said front panel having a second edge joined in abutting relation to an edge of said shoulder panel, said front panel second edge comprising when said front panel is flattened an inwardly curved upper portion and a lower portion, said shoulder panel edge comprising when said shoulder panel is flattened an inwardly curved upper portion smoothly merging into an outwardly rounded portion and a lower portion, said joined front and shoulder panels cooperatively forming substantially hemispherically shaped bust cups having rounded tips with said rounded portions of said shoulder panel edges being disposed at said tips, said curved upper portions of said front panel second edges and said shoulder panel edges forming a double convex tuck between said bust tips and the shoulder end of the joined panels, and said lower portions thereof forming a wedge shaped tuck below the bust tips, said first and second edges of said front panels and said edges of said shoulder panels cooperatively acting to urge said jacket into conformity with the bust configuration of the wearer with said first edges being disposed substantially in a straight line as viewed from the front of the jacket.

4. An expanded elastorner jacket for a human being, said jacket having a front portion and a back portion, the front portion of said jacket having two front panels adapted to extend from the neck to the hips of the wearer, and two shoulder panels, said shoulder and front panels each having edges joined to each other along a butt joint extending from a shoulder region to at least the breast region of said jacket, the portions of the joined edges of said shoulder and front panels between said shoulder and said breast regions including a double convex tuck whereby said jacket is adapted to conform with the body between the shoulder and the breast region of the wearer, said back portion comprising a central back panel adapted to extend from the neck and shoulders to the hips of the wearer, and an appendage depending from and extending beyond the length of said back panel, means for joining said appendage to said two front panels when said jacket is in use, said appendage when fastened to said front panels forming a crotch portion of said jacket, said back portion also including left and right back side panels, each back side panel having an inner side edge abuttingly joined to a mating side edge of the central back panel, each of said joined side edges having first and second juxtaposed convex portions forming first, second, third and fourth outwardly projecting cups, said first and second cups being in the left and right shoulder blade regions, respectively, and said second and third cups being in the left and right buttocks regions, respectively, of said jacket, each of said joined side edges also having concave portions in the waist portion of said jacket forming left and right waist tucks, respectively.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,810,160 6/1931 Cohen 293 2,582,739 1/1952 Armour 293 2,749,551 6/ 1956 Garbellano 282 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,026,710 2/1953 France.

544,975 6/1956 Italy.

582,645 9/ 1958 Italy.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

R. I. SCANLAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN EXPANDED ELASTOMER WOMAN''S JACKET HAVING A FRONT PORTION AND A BACK PORTION, THE FRONT PORTION OF SAID JACKET COMPRISING LEFT AND RIGHT FRONT PANELS ADAPTED TO EXTEND FROM THE NECK TO THE WAIST OF THE WEARER, AND LEFT AND RIGHT SHOULDER PANELS ADAPTED TO EXTEND FROM THE SHOULDER TO BELOW THE BUST REGION OF THE WEARER, SAID FRONT PANELS HAVING INNER EDGES A-B-C JOINED IN JUXTAPOSED RELATION BY RELEASABLE FASTENING MEANS, SAID EDGES A-B-C WHEN SAID PANELS ARE FLATTTENED COMPRISING A CONVEX ARCUATE UPPER PORTION A MERGING INTO A CONCAVE ARCUATE INTERMEDIATE PORTION B WITH SAID CONCAVE ARCUATE PORTION B MERGING INTO A STRAIGHT LOWER PORTION C, EACH OF SAID FRONT PANELS HAVING AN OUTER TOP EDGE D-E-F SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL IN LENGTH AND ABUTTINGLY JOINED TO A CORRESPONDING INNER EDGE G-H-I OF EACH OF SAID SHOULDER PANELS, AND JOINED FRONT AND SHOULDER PANELS COOPERATIVELY FORMING SUBSTANTIALLY HEMISPHERICAL-SHAPED BUST CUPS HAVING ROUNDED TIPS, THE PORTIONS D AND G OF THE JOINED EDGES D-E-F AND G-H-I INCLUDING A DOUBLE CONVEX TUCK DISPOSED BETWEEN THE BUST TIPS AND THE SHOULDER END OF SAID JOINED EDGES AND THE PORTIONS F AND I OF SAID JOINED EDGES INCLUDING A WEDGE-SHAPED TUCK DISPOSED BELOW THE JUST TIPS, SAID EDGE PORTION H BEING AN ARC TANGENTIALLY JOINING SAID EDGE PORTIOINS G AND I AND DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY AT THE TIPS OF SAID BUST CUPS, SAID JOINED EDGES D-E-F AND G-H-I COOPERATIVELY ACTING WITH SAID FASTENED JUXTAPOSED EDGES A-B-C TO URGE SAID JACKET INTO CLOSE CONFORMITY WITH THE BUST CONFIGURATION OF THE WEARER WITH SAID EDGES A-B-C DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY IN A STRAIGHT LINE AS VIEWED FROM THE FRONT OF THE JACKET. 